From Sutra to Tantra
In honor of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche and with deep appreciation for his extraordinary kindness and generosity to a generation of Western Buddhist students, Tsadra Foundation is delighted to bring to fruition his long held dream of making this seminal work available to English speaking students. Foundations of the Buddhist Path, translated by Ngawang Zangpo, comprising Books 1-10 appeared in June 2015. The Essential Tantras of Mahayoga, translated by Gyurme Dorje, comprising Books 15-17 appeared in 2016. Books 13 and 14 were published in 2017. Heidi Nevin is currently (2023) working on books 19 and 20. The remaining volumes 18-25 will follow.
The 25 volumes of The Complete Nyingma Tradition comprise:
- Book 1: Discipleship and forsaking misleading companions
- Book 2: How the sacred Buddhist doctrine is transmitted through teaching and listening, and how its foundation, faith, is developed
- Book 3: The difficulty of attaining a free and fully endowed human life
- Book 4: The impermanence of composite phenomena
- Book 5: Ennobling and corrupting actions, karma, and consequences
- Book 6: The round of rebirth’s nature as suffering
- Book 7: Taking refuge; the legal code of the spiritual path of individual liberation; and the basis, path, and result of the hearers’ and solitary sages’ ways of Buddhist practice
- Book 8: The middle way’s foundation—the two truths, and the initial uplifting of the mind to awakening
- Book 9: The middle way’s path—the twofold cultivation of goodness and wisdom during three intervening incalculable eons
- Book 10: The middle way’s result—the two wisdom bodies of final, manifest complete enlightenment
- Book 11: The array of the realms that fill the bounds of space
- Book 12: The ten major and minor subjects of Buddhist culture
- Book 13: An extensive explanation of every philosophical system
- Book 14: The three exoteric tantras and the highest tantras’ general foundation—empowerment; their vital force—tantric bonds; their path—view, meditation, and conduct; and their result
- Book 15: A presentation of the title, classification of subjects, prologue, main discussion, and closing statement of The Secret Essence Tantra
- Book 16: The peaceful deities’ basis, path, and result
- Book 17: The wrathful deities’ basis, path, and result; the entrusting of the tantra; and a word-by-word commentary to A Litany of the Names of Gentle Splendor
- Book 18: In the commentary to anuyoga tantras, their foundation—empowerment; their vital force—tantric bonds; their path—view, meditation, and conduct; and their result
- Book 19: In the commentary to the natural great perfection tantras, their origin and an enumeration of their texts; their foundation—empowerment; and their vital force—the tantric bonds’ four principles
- Book 20: For those of the highest degree of acumen, who can attain freedom in this lifetime—coming to conclusive certainty in the view of atiyoga
- Book 21: Experiential cultivation in meditation—meditation on cutting through the solidity of dualistic experience
- Book 22: Meditation on the four visions within direct vision
- Book 23: Enrichment of spiritual experience through conduct, introduction to the nature of mind, and signs indicative of degrees of success
- Book 24: For those of a middle degree of acumen, instruction for liberation during the period between lifetimes; and for those of an average degree of acumen, liberation in the realms of the manifest wisdom body
- Book 25: The final result—enlightenment’s five bodies and five wisdoms, and acts of spontaneous enlightened activity
(Taken from pages 27-28 of Foundations of the Buddhist Path, translated by Ngawang Zangpo)
The Author, Choying Tobden Dorje
Choying Tobden Dorje (1785-1848) was a brilliant Buddhist master from the Amdo region of eastern Tibet, renowned for his realization of great perfection. A disciple of the first Dodrupchen Rinpoche, he founded the monastery of Dzokchen Namgyal Ling and was instrumental in establishing the community of lay tantric practitioners known as the Repkong Ngak-mang.
Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
The sublime master Lama Tharchin Rinpoche has departed for the realm of perfect peace.
Previously, he was responsible for a thorough proofreading of the edition of The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra published by the Sichuan People’s Press and he provided a detailed list of corrections of its typographical errors. Further, he intended to establish both a college and a retreat center based on The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra in the homeland of its author, Choying Tobden Dorje. To facilitate studies and experiential cultivation in meditation at those institutions, he oversaw the making of a new electronic version of this text from which a new edition was to be printed. Likewise, in order that The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra spread throughout the world, he planned for this work to be translated into both English and Chinese. For example, in the latter case, many years ago, he sponsored the great translator Lodrö Gyatso, a lord among scholars, to translate the outline and other sections of this work into Chinese. The impact of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche’s acts such as these, both completed and ongoing, concerning The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra, is of the highest order.
In the midst of his activity in 2013, our merit was insufficient to restrain him and we suffered the loss of his departure to other realms. Nevertheless, his wife Pema Déchen, and Eric Colombel and his other disciples, are now fulfilling his inspired vision by having the entirety of The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra printed and distributed. I rejoice in this and offer my heartfelt thanks.
The humble Tübten Nyima [Zenkar Rinpoche]
July 8, 2014
Zenkar Rinpoche Tübten Nyima is a lineage holder of the Nyingma and Sakya traditions. A preeminent lexicographer, library archivist, writer, editor, and publisher, he has been instrumental in preserving and disseminating the works of Tibetan literature in China and throughout the world. Since 1992 he has held research fellowships at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and at Columbia University. Presently, Zenkar Rinpoche is director of the Paltseg Tibetan Rare Texts Research Center, a standing member of the China Buddhist Association, and board member of the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture.